Social media buzz highest for GlobeandMail.com and CBC.ca

A Cision study that looks at buzz generated by the online content of some of Canada’s top media outlets shows CBC.ca and GlobeandMail.com leading the pack.

Last month Chicago-based Cision, a global media research database, conducted a similar study in the US, ranking the number of mentions top metropolitan newspapers received throughout blogs and social networks, as tracked by its Social Media Dashboard.

For the Canadian version, provided by request to Media in Canada, Cision’s dashboard (powered by New Brunswick-based social media monitor Radian6) looks at how many links and comments Canada’s top 10 received from Dec. 29, ’08 to Jan. 27, ’09.

Generating the most chatter throughout message boards, blogs, forums and other social media like Twitter.com, was CBC.ca with 2,858 mentions and 5,727 comments on those mentions.

GlobeandMail.com, which recently souped-up its online content with the launch of an interactive Books website, received 1,501 mentions but only 432 comments.

Comments to the links are relevant because it shows engagement by the social web, people who share content elsewhere – on their own blogs, on social networks and social news sites, says Jay Krall, Cision’s manager of Internet media research, based in Chicago.

In an era of reduced advertising budgets, blogs and other buzz-generating online content like video are the future in news, says Krall. ‘Any advertiser who’s looking at social metrics is already a step ahead,’ he says. While traditional measuring of eyeballs and clicks is still relevant, the social media ranking provides more information as to the engagement and reach of online content, he adds.

TheStar.com received 1,449 mentions on the social web, with 1,363 comments, and NationalPost.com had 549 mentions and 1,540 comments. Macleans.ca, which ranked fifth with 223 mentions and 926 comments, stood out to Krall because it had 4.2 comments per mention.

Maclean’s online content includes about 25 blogs, daily contributions from most of its staff writers, and live blogging political events in Ottawa, says Sheldon Sawchuk, general manager, Macleans.ca. ‘Our writers actually join in the discussion, which isn’t typical of any of the larger media properties,’ he says.

‘We are seeing sponsors really wanting to invite people into the discussion, and make sure that their voices are being heard,’ Sawchuk tells MiC. One of the reasons agencies have an increased faith in digital opportunities is the ability to track and report on ROI, he speculates.

‘There’s been such vast improvements in tracking these things, there’s an expectation from clients now that there’s a return on their investment,’ says Sawchuk.